Marshall McLuhan, a 1960’s Canadian professor and philosopher, was ahead of his time.
He is credited with predicting the World Wide Web thirty years before it was invented. And with initiating the now famous theory, “The medium is the message.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_medium_is_the_message
What does this mean where the Internet and evangelism are concerned? Perhaps that Kingdom POWER potential has exploded in the digital age. The potential to reach an immense audience with the most immense message on earth:
The Good News of Jesus Christ.
So… How can Christians in general (and business owners in particular) more effectively leverage digital media to evangelize?
The Medium:
I found some amazing stats on a digital marketing company’s website. I don’t know these folks, but they certainly have helpful information about understanding social media usage and how to market to different generations — e.g., Millennials (born 1979 to 1996) and “Gen Z” Centennials (born 1997 to present). https://zephoria.com/marketing-to-centennials/
Their Facebook stats are breathtaking. And their assessment of the implications of those stats are spot on. To cite a few:
Stat: 1.45 billion people on average log onto Facebook daily and are considered daily active users for March 2018… a 13% increase year over year (Source: Facebook 04/25/18). Implication: A huge and growing # of active consistent users, making a promising audience.
Stat: Average time spent per Facebook visit is 20 minutes. (Source: Infodocket). Implication: You have a short time period to make your impression, so use it wisely with relevant, interesting and unique posts… to get the most return on your efforts.
Stat: Every 60 seconds on Facebook: 510,000 comments are posted, 293,000 statuses are updates, and 136,000 photos are uploaded (Source: The Social Skinny). Implication: A huge amount of informaiton competing for [users’] attention, so quality and strategy on your part matter.
https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/
This, of course, focuses on Facebook — the #1 social media outlet (by sheer numbers). Other venues (Twitter, Snapchat, etc.) are growing by leaps and bounds.
The Message:
So… In light of this huge and active digital audience, how many Christians are fully utilizing social media to evangelize?
On June 26, 2018, the Barna Group released some fascinating research about Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age. Here are two highlights:
58% of non-Christians (who have had someone share their faith with them in the past five years) say someone shared their faith through Facebook.
31% of self-identified Christians (who have talked about their faith in the last five years) use digital communications when sharing their faith with a non-Christian (emails, links, videos, Facebook, etc.).
Does this mean non-Christians are perceiving that faith-sharing occurs more than it actually does? Or are these Christians (the 31%) sharing so actively they’re reaching a vast array of non-Christians?
I hope the latter is true! But what matters most is how we each personalize these fundamental questions:
How am I actively sharing my faith with others now?
How can I more fully leverage social media’s power to share The Gospel — the Most Powerful Message on earth?
Please post your comments below.
Diana Furr, a.k.a. Abba’s Girl
This blog may have raised questions for you. If you’d like to connect, engage, or get further help from me, you can… EMAIL me at [email protected]; CALL me at 863-446-1660; or request a complimentary initial CONSULT with me at https://calendly.com/diana-furr.